Proper People - Early Asylum Life
- enables the reader to travel back to the early nineteenth century to meet some of the mentally ill patients who passed through Yorkshire’s West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Wakefield

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Thursday, 12 May 2016

Review of "Early Asylum Life" presentation to Wakefield and District FHS

At the beginning of April I was delighted to deliver my presentation "Early Asylum Life" to fellow members of Wakefield and District Family History Society. As usual I managed to over-run my allotted hour but this was with the blessing of the chairman, Chris, and the audience who seemed fascinated to hear what I had found in the records.

May's edition of the society's journal The Wakefield Kinsman carries a review of my presentation which I am reproducing here with the kind permission of Secretary, Ron Pullan.

At our April meeting David Scrimgeour gave an illustrated talk
based on his recently published book, Proper
People, which is an account of lives of some of the patients admitted to
the West Yorkshire Pauper Lunatic Asylum between 1818 and 1869. This institution
was built in Wakefield and later became known as Stanley Royd Hospital.

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David’s interest in mental health developed while
researching his family history when he learned that his great-grandmother died
in an asylum in Scotland in 1919. Living in Wakefield and passing the hospital
many times his interest in the subject of mental health grew. He learned that
there was a wealth of material on the subject that could be accessed at the
West Yorkshire Archives in Wakefield. Using case notes from the hospital’s
ledgers David gave examples of the reasons why people were committed, how they
were treated and the outcome.

One of several examples given was that of Hannah Brierley who was arrested for receiving
stolen goods. She was acquitted on the grounds of insanity because it was
discovered that she had previously tried to destroy herself. Hannah was
admitted into the asylum but the staff there became convinced that she was in
fact sane. She was given a position of trust as a nurse and was released four
months later.

Early treatment for mental illness was relatively new and bizarrely
included clamping an individual on a chair which was then raised from the
ground and caused to spin rapidly, causing dizziness and vomiting to the
patient. Electric shock was also used but purging by using various emetics such
as rhubarb was thought to help and widely used. William Winter, an inmate, suffered from constipation and it is recorded
that upon receiving a warm bath he parted with a stool measuring 4ft 5ins! The
length of time a patient spent in the asylum varied but one inmate spent 49
years there.

David showed great sympathy and understanding throughout his
talk which was very well received and appreciated.To book David to give a talk to your society please email david@scrimgeour.biz.